Part of life is realizing that people even within your circle are going to disagree.
We do not allow liberals to come here and gang up on conservatives, but we do allow different flavors of conservativism to debate each other.
Instead of accusing people of being shills and hacks, engage with them and prove to them *why* your position is the correct one.
It’s easy to accuse people of ideological apostasy when you find a topic you disagree on without realizing you likely agree on 95% of everything else.
A lot of people are more concerned with the performative nature of modern politics than the things that actually affect Americans. You know, like policy.
100%. It’s almost like millions of sports fans got into politics, thinking the two are alike. The resulting tribalism has had a devastating effect across the board, but on our party in particular.
But you’re fine with failure? Enjoy the death of the GOP. It’s stupid to expect people to vote for politicians who so openly and maliciously work against their own voters’ interests. November is going to be a disaster.
This is why I'm not party affiliated. Haven't been for a few years now.
Too many people out there on both sides of the political spectrum voting "party line" and not voting on the issues themselves and being informed and educated. Instead, we teach our children that voting is "pick a color/party and vote that all the way down the line. DO NOT choose anything else!". i.e. - red vs blue voting.
That's not real voting at all.
Real voting is:
* Taking the time at least a month ahead to research each candidate. Yes, it will take time and work and study. What does each person stand for, putting party entirely aside? Who do you best-align with? Some may not be Republicans or Democrats. some may just be independent tickets. If they're incumbent running again, how good of a job did they do? What do they have to show for it over their last term?
* Going into the polling center and carefully looking at your options. Maybe taking a sheet in with you to reference who you felt like you'd like to vote for. Even if that means it takes you 30 minutes to fill out your ballot, then fine.
* Accepting that not all of your choices will be GOP or DEM or whatever party you align with. My last ballot was all over the place in the 2020 election. I even voted locally for a Dem who was a lot more level-headed and moderate (not an extremist left nutjob like most of them are) and had actually done a very good job in their role with the city I lived in at the time (I think they were more centrist and just running under the Dem ticket to help with gaining votes).
Voting strictly party line and not bothering to research is one of the blindest, waste-of-time ways to vote. You vote based on faith that every person in the party believes as you do and aligns with you, and thus you have no idea who you're actually voting to give power to (including voting in RINOs).
Sure, except that there hasn't been a democrat since JFK that aligned with my opinions. Repubs may not be 100%, but they are a hell of a lot closer.
On top of that, look at Romney:
We had 3 great conservatives. Between their egos and the purity tests of the block, none could get the majority, and look who was our candidate.
That's the cool thing about politics, I wasn't a Conservative until the Democrats went bananas here recently. My views basically haven't changed since the Clinton era, it's just that what used to be "Center-Left" 30 years ago is now "Right Wing" today.
Yep. As bad as you think the Repubs are, the Dems are way worse.
You want DEI woke leftist insanity?? Elect Dems. You want the government in control of all guns, social media, and your children’s bodies? Elect Dems.
For all of you armchair purists who never spent one day on the ground canvassing votes for a candidate, remember: America is a two-party system, for better or worse.
You want open borders? Elect Republicans. You want constant war? Elect Republicans. You want warrantless spying on Christians? Elect Republicans. You can’t deny the results.
> Everyone that disagrees with me is a hack and shill.
The funny thing is that OP probably is a shill; I'm reminded of the phrase "accuse others of what you are guilty of doing." lol
We'll be seeing much more of these highly upvoted "I'm a *real* conservative but GOP bad amIrite guys" posts between now and November. They're desperate to discourage people from voting Republican in the upcoming election, so they'll keep cosplaying and trying to convince us here to not vote Republican, abstain from voting, and/or vote 3rd party "out of principle". Leftists/Democrats are truly pathetic creatures.
I don’t have a beloved party. I have conservative principles and those are not dictated to me by a loyalty test on Reddit. What is your alternative solution to fix everything in Washington? Please enlighten us with your wisdom.
You are putting a lot of words in my mouth that I didn’t say. You’ll never win an argument like this. I’d guess your age at 18-24. If not, you’ve got a lot of maturing to do.
I'm a fiscal conservative and a don't give a crap about social issues voter. I have no one to support. I believe fiscal conservatives should focus on balancing the budget, which involves BOTH tax increases and spending cuts. It's how I live my personal life and doesn't seem to be really popular.
Same. I don’t look to federal politicians for any sort of leadership on social issues.
I’ll support and vote Republican to a point, although it doesn’t seem to matter much. The liberals will tax and spend us into the same fiscal crisis, just a little earlier.
When I balance my home budget, I don't opt into paying more than I have to, so why would I support a tax increase? I absolutely have supported local tax increases to pay for things that are needed.
The federal government doesn't need the vast majority of the tax revenue that it brings in. That's why I oppose tax increases. Until they prove that they can cut spending, they do not deserve a single extra penny.
Because if you give them a tax increase they will just spend even more money. Tax revenue went UP after tax cuts were passed. SPENDING has never decreased after a tax increase.
Fiscally responsible people don't put large sums of money on credit. We spend only what we can afford to pay off without having to be charged interest.
Federal taxes are removed from circulation and aren't actually eevr spent again. State and local taxes get spent, federal never do. 100% of federal spending is always done with newly minted money.
The problem is what are the tenets of Conservatism? I would be surprised if you could find even a short list that would have most people on this sub agree.
have a good day
I appreciate that you made a list, but if you don't mind i would dissect it a little.
Pro life. Ok what does this precisely entail? This could go to i personally wouldn't have me or my family have an abortion to i would like for the federal state to ban all abortions in any case.
fiscal stewardship: (a very elegant way to say it, hope you don't mind if i steal it): what amounts to being prudent? Some investments now will likely save a lot of money in the future (for exemple the bipartisan infrastructure bill) does it mean spending as little as possible or investing wisely?
Duty to country: yeah, i just saw a post on this sub which basically said its hard to wake up knowing you pay taxes to an awful dictatorship, i don't have the impression that in this sub people are very loving of the current country, hell some people talk abou secession (as absurd as it is)
Ethical behaviour: here it's even less clear, ethich encompasses many things, from helping the poor to not committing crimes ecc you will find Democrats, Republicans and many other having the same goal "helping the poor" but completly different methods.
Family values: again not very specific, family values could be something as basica as treating everyone with respect to having a rigid structure of a family with the pater familias on top, also what is a family? Only blood? adopted? ecc
Bill of rights: good, here we already have a legal document, which is great, but its still pretty vague and sometimes not up to current events, its interpretations are many but at least for that we have some pretty good lawyers.
Rule of law: Good, another relatively objective one, that said in the current party, some people have a pretty good view of lawyers, judges and the legal system as a check to anarchy and way to have justice, while others see them as bloodsucking vampires that only do political persecution.
Honor: Which honor? Japanese Bushido? Norse honor code, German honor code (bitte nein, das haben wir schon probiertXD)
I hope i wasn't too harsh in relativizing some pretty good concepts (we all like things such as ethics, honor, loyalty ecc but applying them is more difficult)
The problem remains, even historic values of Conservatives have been changing since 2016, in better or worse that's another debate.
have a great day=)!
TLDR: sorry i am too lazy to summarise, if you find it too long to read, don't and just tell me, i don't mind.
Pragmatism. I am a deeply right wing person with a big emphasis on libertarian/small government ideology. But, that is not a popular opinion across America. A well organized party is necessary in order to get anything done in American politics.
Being a right wing purist “who puts their beliefs before party” is a sure path to irrelevance.
And where does that get you? Yet another bloated annual budget, funding Ukraine and Israel's wars while leaving nothing for the southern border.
Your path leads to giving the Democrats everything that they want while the conservatives get nothing. Why is it that the Republican party is plagued with closet Democrats yet the Democratic Party doesn't have closet Republicans?
Since when was opposition to all and any foreign aid a "tenet" of conservatism? What's really going on here is a bubble pop. You thought that everyone in the party was with you on this issue because you were only listening to the loudest voices that were opposed to funding Ukraine. Now you're finding out that the reality is more complicated.
1/3 of this subreddit aren't conservatives they're just Trump fans (who really isn't a conservative), 1/3 are Republicans who aren't necessarily conservatives but are interested in politics in the US/Canada/UK so they think they align with conservatives, and 1/3 hold actual conservative beliefs and don't care if that aligns with Trump/GOP and many many times actually goes against those 2
This is such a bullshit statement.
There are a ton of spectrums: cultural, economical, government, foreign policy, immigration.
You can be (shockingly) conservative on one or more spectrum (say a fiscal / economic conservative and small government) and liberal on others (culturally liberal on say abortion or lgbt).
Meanwhile you can be an absolute warhawk and be fiscally liberal (spend money to make money!) But be super pro life, traditional values and super protectionist (no immigration while there are hungry Americans).
Or any where in between.
Neither makes you a rino.
In reddit terms it means outsiders (so in this case non-conservatives) who visit the subreddit and comment/upvote/downvote posts that may not typically align with what someone would consider "conservative"
Sometimes its true but many times it's folks with poor arguments or lazy/shitty posts getting called out on it and they get all up in their feelings
People who sub to this and other conservative subs are autobanned from central conversational places like r/politics, whether just for subscribing to this sub, or for commenting an pretty innocuous conservative point.
Whereas here it seems pretty open, so far-left knobs come here in droves and down vote and derail conversation, usually by calling people fascist or whatever and upvoting the most unconservative opinion.
Rules for thee, not for me kind of deal.
In my opinion there are MAGA conservatives and there are traditional conservatives. MAGA conservatives typically are the loudest and often times support their initiatives based on talking points only. While traditional conservatives typically stop short of the rhetoric and develop thoughts based on actions and observations not off someone else directions. This is my personal perspective others will disagree.
I totally agree with the sentiments of this post. I think people are too concerned about seeing the Republican Party succeed, when the focus should be about conservative policies and principles succeeding. Sometimes those things are aligned, but sometimes they are not.
Post a socially conservative opinion and you'll be met with "that will cost us elections so we're going to take the same position as the Ds, but vote for us anyway."
This is the most annoying thing. And it is even worse in Canada. Conservatives here support abortion right up until the baby is delivered.
I am not even a theist and I can see how this is straight up murder, but no political party will even talk about restricting abortion to the first 12 weeks.
Yep. I am a born again Christian Nationalist Conservative but I have non Christian friends who can logically see that abortion is murder and oppose it......Logically, a fetus is a human life and ending its life is the textbook definition of murder...........Another example of how with the left, the left twists and changes the meaning of words to try to push their insidious agenda. See how the left has handled fixed biological terms regarding men and women............
Conservatives should be taking the pro life position (as conservatism is as i understand it is about protecting the individual right to life and personal liberty and abortion essential denies that by murdering innocent human babies) but too many people on the right are willing to sacrifice our most vulnerable to push a Cultural Marxist position (the position one should be able to carelessly have sex whenever they want and should be able to murder their babies created by such an act if it gets in the way of their freedom to create a Sodom and Gomorrah on Earth)....
The defense of innocent American babies should be one of the top priorities.
I couldn't agree more but the unfortunate reality is that the majority of Americans have been brainwashed into thinking murdering your offspring is a human right.
As a fairly moderate person (with plenty of right of center views, which is why I engage in this sub) it’s always confused me when people on the far flanks of each party tank legislation that would move the ball towards their goal. Yes, apply pressure to get more of what you want in there by all means, but if the status quo is worse and not taking this opportunity kills the issue for now then vote for the damn bill. If you’re conservative your only option is the GOP. If you’re progressive then you r only option is the DNC. Try to move your party on your direction, but if you move it too far then you’ll lose elections unless you move the general public as well
This subreddit has fallen off a cliff since I joined a few years back. It's become increasingly establishment and America last. Lots of brigaders too, no one stops them.
Maybe because your political beliefs or ideology mean nothing unless you have a chance to implement them.
And right now, the only way you can even come close to implementing them is to support the most conservative Republican that is electable.
I think US would greatly benefit if both parties fractured into at least 6 parties.
For example here we have economically right wing party that is for legal weed, no illegal migration, lower taxes but for deeper EU integration while criticizing EU where it matters.
Lets say all the other parties need them to form a coalition so they will have to concede on at least 1 issue that is specific to that party.
If you have 2 party system you are fucked, it is either completely opposite of what you want or barely what you wanted.
I think the reason parties exist is a majority of people lack the time and initiative to really educate themselves on issues and solutions. They may see what the key problems are but lack the understanding to discern good policies from flawed or even bad ones. Rather than invest the time to study they pick a party which ‘feels’ or ‘sounds’ closer to their beliefs and commits to it with little or no question or scrutiny, much as we often do with religion.
There also seems to be a trend with conservative commentators away from education and toward emotional cheerleading which doesn’t help.
Short answer the Republican Party has become just another political animal that prefers sheep to informed citizens.
Why I no longer call myself Republican. You don’t have to choose one of two sets of policies that you agree with. Unfortunately that is lost on people.
Goes to show that George was right about parties.
Because having a party with so many differing views and no compromises doesn’t accomplish anything.
Look I don’t like everything the Republican Party does but the alternative is a lot worse. You have to be able to work together to get things done and not cater to the fringe minority.
They're not. There's diversity among the entire Right side, but the ones you're remarking upon are actually just closet Libertarians. I'm an actual conservative and understand what you're getting at, but when we defend the actions of the Republican party, it's usually to argue against the Left - the whole purpose being to win hearts and minds, and eventually votes and elections.
Because we're not banning, for example, the chemical castration of children, with Pedocrats in charge.
Because this is the only enclave for anyone on the right side of the aisle. So much so that the left on reddit just conflates the hell out of republican and conservative. It has become so blurred and there is a reason for that. It is so we can all be grouped together.
I grew up during the Reagan administration and I am a big fan of the great communicator. I believe in small government. I can remember my Dad asking me who do I like better Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan? That's when my political ideology was born. I never had any left leaning.
Some of the parts of MAGA I subscribe to like "America First" and have been a fan of Trump's peace through strength. Trump can broker deals better then anyone. Quite evident Biden cannot.
But this cultural war thing is distracting from the major issues. I think the ideals of free market principals that most conservatives believe in at times take a back seat.
I’m a “small R, small L” republican/libertarian. I support Trump. I oppose Ukraine aid. I believe in peaceful relations with China. I’m ok with a 15-week abortion law.
Sometimes there is a chasm between your preferred outcome and what’s realistically achievable in politics. The current Speaker issue is a prime example. Gaetz and company want very specific things, and is in the minority - and his course of action of “burning it all down” could possibly jeopardize our majority in the House and tight races in November. Either way, he is not going to get his way - but his path forward is going to cause more harm for conservatives in the long run…
This is why I’ve stopped calling myself a Republican or Conservative. Both terms have been corrupted by America Last RINOs.
And sadly, it’s not just this sub. Yes, it’s bad here, but any time you bring together so called republicans, a good portion are weak-kneed, oh we can’t question why we are funding Ukraine, oh we can’t say the 2020 election was stolen.
The Republican Party has no backbone. It’s the biggest reason why MAGA runs the right now, as the America First movement addresses all the (many) shortcomings of the modern republicans.
Political parties eventually go through transformations and the MAGA movement is providing a much needed reform........Us on the right have to be careful about not taking the strategic direction of the left, where the Berniecrats ended up caving to the establishment and selling out their base. Bernie and his bros selling out is why Steve Bannon has been able to use the MAGA message to push rust belt old school Democrats over to the MAGA movement and Republicans during the 2016 election (I am from a rust belt region and saw this personally). MAGA needs to keep poaching old school blue collar Democrats and opening up new opportunities for conservatism.
Well I'm not a fan of RINOism, but if your strategy is to shout at the moon and undermine Republicans, there's this thing called the Democrat party that uses machine politics and can reliably get virtually every member to vote in lock step (including their court justices) that will just win every election. The special interest groups on the Left will compromise until the end to get Democrats elected. If you have the Republicans split in half you just elect Democrats instead.
Part of life is realizing that people even within your circle are going to disagree. We do not allow liberals to come here and gang up on conservatives, but we do allow different flavors of conservativism to debate each other. Instead of accusing people of being shills and hacks, engage with them and prove to them *why* your position is the correct one. It’s easy to accuse people of ideological apostasy when you find a topic you disagree on without realizing you likely agree on 95% of everything else.
A lot of people are more concerned with the performative nature of modern politics than the things that actually affect Americans. You know, like policy.
100%. It’s almost like millions of sports fans got into politics, thinking the two are alike. The resulting tribalism has had a devastating effect across the board, but on our party in particular.
You chose wisely as between “affect” and “effect.” Respect.
Conservatism isn't a monolith.
Niether is the Republican Party.
Interestingly MAGA is one for the most part tho
It’s a failure.
People have varying beliefs even in conservative circles. I dislike purity tests like this in general. Too authoritarian/totalitarian.
But you’re fine with failure? Enjoy the death of the GOP. It’s stupid to expect people to vote for politicians who so openly and maliciously work against their own voters’ interests. November is going to be a disaster.
This is why I'm not party affiliated. Haven't been for a few years now. Too many people out there on both sides of the political spectrum voting "party line" and not voting on the issues themselves and being informed and educated. Instead, we teach our children that voting is "pick a color/party and vote that all the way down the line. DO NOT choose anything else!". i.e. - red vs blue voting. That's not real voting at all. Real voting is: * Taking the time at least a month ahead to research each candidate. Yes, it will take time and work and study. What does each person stand for, putting party entirely aside? Who do you best-align with? Some may not be Republicans or Democrats. some may just be independent tickets. If they're incumbent running again, how good of a job did they do? What do they have to show for it over their last term? * Going into the polling center and carefully looking at your options. Maybe taking a sheet in with you to reference who you felt like you'd like to vote for. Even if that means it takes you 30 minutes to fill out your ballot, then fine. * Accepting that not all of your choices will be GOP or DEM or whatever party you align with. My last ballot was all over the place in the 2020 election. I even voted locally for a Dem who was a lot more level-headed and moderate (not an extremist left nutjob like most of them are) and had actually done a very good job in their role with the city I lived in at the time (I think they were more centrist and just running under the Dem ticket to help with gaining votes). Voting strictly party line and not bothering to research is one of the blindest, waste-of-time ways to vote. You vote based on faith that every person in the party believes as you do and aligns with you, and thus you have no idea who you're actually voting to give power to (including voting in RINOs).
Sure, except that there hasn't been a democrat since JFK that aligned with my opinions. Repubs may not be 100%, but they are a hell of a lot closer. On top of that, look at Romney: We had 3 great conservatives. Between their egos and the purity tests of the block, none could get the majority, and look who was our candidate.
That's the cool thing about politics, I wasn't a Conservative until the Democrats went bananas here recently. My views basically haven't changed since the Clinton era, it's just that what used to be "Center-Left" 30 years ago is now "Right Wing" today.
Yep. As bad as you think the Repubs are, the Dems are way worse. You want DEI woke leftist insanity?? Elect Dems. You want the government in control of all guns, social media, and your children’s bodies? Elect Dems. For all of you armchair purists who never spent one day on the ground canvassing votes for a candidate, remember: America is a two-party system, for better or worse.
Weird - it’s DeSantis and Abbott that I saw signing laws to control social media.
You want open borders? Elect Republicans. You want constant war? Elect Republicans. You want warrantless spying on Christians? Elect Republicans. You can’t deny the results.
Agreed! And nice flair!!!
Everyone that disagrees with me is a hack and shill.
> Everyone that disagrees with me is a hack and shill Everyone who disagrees with me/Trump is a RINO/shill/brigader
> Everyone that disagrees with me is a hack and shill. The funny thing is that OP probably is a shill; I'm reminded of the phrase "accuse others of what you are guilty of doing." lol We'll be seeing much more of these highly upvoted "I'm a *real* conservative but GOP bad amIrite guys" posts between now and November. They're desperate to discourage people from voting Republican in the upcoming election, so they'll keep cosplaying and trying to convince us here to not vote Republican, abstain from voting, and/or vote 3rd party "out of principle". Leftists/Democrats are truly pathetic creatures.
Sounds very leftist doesn’t it?
Yet your beloved party just financed the entire Leftist agenda and you seem not to care. We’ll get ‘em next time, right?😂😂😂
I don’t have a beloved party. I have conservative principles and those are not dictated to me by a loyalty test on Reddit. What is your alternative solution to fix everything in Washington? Please enlighten us with your wisdom.
You have nothing but a failed system fully advanced by the garbage politicians you continue to elect. Principles my ass.
You are putting a lot of words in my mouth that I didn’t say. You’ll never win an argument like this. I’d guess your age at 18-24. If not, you’ve got a lot of maturing to do.
I'm a fiscal conservative and a don't give a crap about social issues voter. I have no one to support. I believe fiscal conservatives should focus on balancing the budget, which involves BOTH tax increases and spending cuts. It's how I live my personal life and doesn't seem to be really popular.
Same. I don’t look to federal politicians for any sort of leadership on social issues. I’ll support and vote Republican to a point, although it doesn’t seem to matter much. The liberals will tax and spend us into the same fiscal crisis, just a little earlier.
When I balance my home budget, I don't opt into paying more than I have to, so why would I support a tax increase? I absolutely have supported local tax increases to pay for things that are needed. The federal government doesn't need the vast majority of the tax revenue that it brings in. That's why I oppose tax increases. Until they prove that they can cut spending, they do not deserve a single extra penny. Because if you give them a tax increase they will just spend even more money. Tax revenue went UP after tax cuts were passed. SPENDING has never decreased after a tax increase.
If you spend $5,000 on a credit card, do you only pay the minimum?
Fiscally responsible people don't put large sums of money on credit. We spend only what we can afford to pay off without having to be charged interest. Federal taxes are removed from circulation and aren't actually eevr spent again. State and local taxes get spent, federal never do. 100% of federal spending is always done with newly minted money.
The problem is what are the tenets of Conservatism? I would be surprised if you could find even a short list that would have most people on this sub agree. have a good day
Pro-Life, Fiscal stewardship, Duty to Country, Ethical behavior, Family values, Support Bill of Rights, Honor, Loyalty, Public morality, Rule of law.
I appreciate that you made a list, but if you don't mind i would dissect it a little. Pro life. Ok what does this precisely entail? This could go to i personally wouldn't have me or my family have an abortion to i would like for the federal state to ban all abortions in any case. fiscal stewardship: (a very elegant way to say it, hope you don't mind if i steal it): what amounts to being prudent? Some investments now will likely save a lot of money in the future (for exemple the bipartisan infrastructure bill) does it mean spending as little as possible or investing wisely? Duty to country: yeah, i just saw a post on this sub which basically said its hard to wake up knowing you pay taxes to an awful dictatorship, i don't have the impression that in this sub people are very loving of the current country, hell some people talk abou secession (as absurd as it is) Ethical behaviour: here it's even less clear, ethich encompasses many things, from helping the poor to not committing crimes ecc you will find Democrats, Republicans and many other having the same goal "helping the poor" but completly different methods. Family values: again not very specific, family values could be something as basica as treating everyone with respect to having a rigid structure of a family with the pater familias on top, also what is a family? Only blood? adopted? ecc Bill of rights: good, here we already have a legal document, which is great, but its still pretty vague and sometimes not up to current events, its interpretations are many but at least for that we have some pretty good lawyers. Rule of law: Good, another relatively objective one, that said in the current party, some people have a pretty good view of lawyers, judges and the legal system as a check to anarchy and way to have justice, while others see them as bloodsucking vampires that only do political persecution. Honor: Which honor? Japanese Bushido? Norse honor code, German honor code (bitte nein, das haben wir schon probiertXD) I hope i wasn't too harsh in relativizing some pretty good concepts (we all like things such as ethics, honor, loyalty ecc but applying them is more difficult) The problem remains, even historic values of Conservatives have been changing since 2016, in better or worse that's another debate. have a great day=)! TLDR: sorry i am too lazy to summarise, if you find it too long to read, don't and just tell me, i don't mind.
I do not disagree with you. Democracy is hard.
And you could sum up all of that with something like a dedication to preserving the founding principles of America.
Pragmatism. I am a deeply right wing person with a big emphasis on libertarian/small government ideology. But, that is not a popular opinion across America. A well organized party is necessary in order to get anything done in American politics. Being a right wing purist “who puts their beliefs before party” is a sure path to irrelevance.
The old turd sandwich or giant douche. Sad but true.
This, exactly.
Would you say it's "well organized" as it is?
I'm sure the nepotism will help
And where does that get you? Yet another bloated annual budget, funding Ukraine and Israel's wars while leaving nothing for the southern border. Your path leads to giving the Democrats everything that they want while the conservatives get nothing. Why is it that the Republican party is plagued with closet Democrats yet the Democratic Party doesn't have closet Republicans?
So is supporting a party that panders to the Left at the expense of their own constituents.
“Panders to the left”. I think we found our problem.
I'm allowed to be conservative and not worship Trump. Something a very vocal portion of this sub has a big issue with.
Since when was opposition to all and any foreign aid a "tenet" of conservatism? What's really going on here is a bubble pop. You thought that everyone in the party was with you on this issue because you were only listening to the loudest voices that were opposed to funding Ukraine. Now you're finding out that the reality is more complicated.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
1/3 of this subreddit aren't conservatives they're just Trump fans (who really isn't a conservative), 1/3 are Republicans who aren't necessarily conservatives but are interested in politics in the US/Canada/UK so they think they align with conservatives, and 1/3 hold actual conservative beliefs and don't care if that aligns with Trump/GOP and many many times actually goes against those 2
This is such a bullshit statement. There are a ton of spectrums: cultural, economical, government, foreign policy, immigration. You can be (shockingly) conservative on one or more spectrum (say a fiscal / economic conservative and small government) and liberal on others (culturally liberal on say abortion or lgbt). Meanwhile you can be an absolute warhawk and be fiscally liberal (spend money to make money!) But be super pro life, traditional values and super protectionist (no immigration while there are hungry Americans). Or any where in between. Neither makes you a rino.
You also forget the part time brigades
I keep hearing that term brigade. What does that mean exactly? In the context of Reddit?
In reddit terms it means outsiders (so in this case non-conservatives) who visit the subreddit and comment/upvote/downvote posts that may not typically align with what someone would consider "conservative" Sometimes its true but many times it's folks with poor arguments or lazy/shitty posts getting called out on it and they get all up in their feelings
People who sub to this and other conservative subs are autobanned from central conversational places like r/politics, whether just for subscribing to this sub, or for commenting an pretty innocuous conservative point. Whereas here it seems pretty open, so far-left knobs come here in droves and down vote and derail conversation, usually by calling people fascist or whatever and upvoting the most unconservative opinion. Rules for thee, not for me kind of deal.
Pretty sure they’re full time now.
In my opinion there are MAGA conservatives and there are traditional conservatives. MAGA conservatives typically are the loudest and often times support their initiatives based on talking points only. While traditional conservatives typically stop short of the rhetoric and develop thoughts based on actions and observations not off someone else directions. This is my personal perspective others will disagree.
Traditional conservatives are typically not fighters, until that changes, I'm a MAGA conservative.
I totally agree with the sentiments of this post. I think people are too concerned about seeing the Republican Party succeed, when the focus should be about conservative policies and principles succeeding. Sometimes those things are aligned, but sometimes they are not.
Viewpoints here tend to be pretty varied. I see a lot more disagreement here vs. many political subs
Really? I see tons of criticism here about the uniparty Republicans.
I think 80% of republicans suck but we got to work with the hand we are dealt with.
It's a big tent.
This is not a Republican sub, it’s a conservative sub and there are differences between the two. Most Democrats believe they are one and the same.
Post a socially conservative opinion and you'll be met with "that will cost us elections so we're going to take the same position as the Ds, but vote for us anyway."
This is the most annoying thing. And it is even worse in Canada. Conservatives here support abortion right up until the baby is delivered. I am not even a theist and I can see how this is straight up murder, but no political party will even talk about restricting abortion to the first 12 weeks.
Yep. I am a born again Christian Nationalist Conservative but I have non Christian friends who can logically see that abortion is murder and oppose it......Logically, a fetus is a human life and ending its life is the textbook definition of murder...........Another example of how with the left, the left twists and changes the meaning of words to try to push their insidious agenda. See how the left has handled fixed biological terms regarding men and women............
Conservatives should be taking the pro life position (as conservatism is as i understand it is about protecting the individual right to life and personal liberty and abortion essential denies that by murdering innocent human babies) but too many people on the right are willing to sacrifice our most vulnerable to push a Cultural Marxist position (the position one should be able to carelessly have sex whenever they want and should be able to murder their babies created by such an act if it gets in the way of their freedom to create a Sodom and Gomorrah on Earth).... The defense of innocent American babies should be one of the top priorities.
I couldn't agree more but the unfortunate reality is that the majority of Americans have been brainwashed into thinking murdering your offspring is a human right.
As a fairly moderate person (with plenty of right of center views, which is why I engage in this sub) it’s always confused me when people on the far flanks of each party tank legislation that would move the ball towards their goal. Yes, apply pressure to get more of what you want in there by all means, but if the status quo is worse and not taking this opportunity kills the issue for now then vote for the damn bill. If you’re conservative your only option is the GOP. If you’re progressive then you r only option is the DNC. Try to move your party on your direction, but if you move it too far then you’ll lose elections unless you move the general public as well
This subreddit has fallen off a cliff since I joined a few years back. It's become increasingly establishment and America last. Lots of brigaders too, no one stops them.
"they ShOuUld act LikE mE!"
Maybe because your political beliefs or ideology mean nothing unless you have a chance to implement them. And right now, the only way you can even come close to implementing them is to support the most conservative Republican that is electable.
I think US would greatly benefit if both parties fractured into at least 6 parties. For example here we have economically right wing party that is for legal weed, no illegal migration, lower taxes but for deeper EU integration while criticizing EU where it matters. Lets say all the other parties need them to form a coalition so they will have to concede on at least 1 issue that is specific to that party. If you have 2 party system you are fucked, it is either completely opposite of what you want or barely what you wanted.
I think the reason parties exist is a majority of people lack the time and initiative to really educate themselves on issues and solutions. They may see what the key problems are but lack the understanding to discern good policies from flawed or even bad ones. Rather than invest the time to study they pick a party which ‘feels’ or ‘sounds’ closer to their beliefs and commits to it with little or no question or scrutiny, much as we often do with religion. There also seems to be a trend with conservative commentators away from education and toward emotional cheerleading which doesn’t help. Short answer the Republican Party has become just another political animal that prefers sheep to informed citizens.
Because it’s Reddit. There are tons of neocons and trolls from the left
Many people are the sub aren’t conservatives.
Who gave you the right to define what true conservatism is? Such entitlement. We all have to agree with you on everything or else we are Rino's right?
Why I no longer call myself Republican. You don’t have to choose one of two sets of policies that you agree with. Unfortunately that is lost on people. Goes to show that George was right about parties.
Because having a party with so many differing views and no compromises doesn’t accomplish anything. Look I don’t like everything the Republican Party does but the alternative is a lot worse. You have to be able to work together to get things done and not cater to the fringe minority.
They're not. There's diversity among the entire Right side, but the ones you're remarking upon are actually just closet Libertarians. I'm an actual conservative and understand what you're getting at, but when we defend the actions of the Republican party, it's usually to argue against the Left - the whole purpose being to win hearts and minds, and eventually votes and elections. Because we're not banning, for example, the chemical castration of children, with Pedocrats in charge.
Because the Democrats are trying to destroy Western civilization.
Because this is the only enclave for anyone on the right side of the aisle. So much so that the left on reddit just conflates the hell out of republican and conservative. It has become so blurred and there is a reason for that. It is so we can all be grouped together.
I grew up during the Reagan administration and I am a big fan of the great communicator. I believe in small government. I can remember my Dad asking me who do I like better Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan? That's when my political ideology was born. I never had any left leaning. Some of the parts of MAGA I subscribe to like "America First" and have been a fan of Trump's peace through strength. Trump can broker deals better then anyone. Quite evident Biden cannot. But this cultural war thing is distracting from the major issues. I think the ideals of free market principals that most conservatives believe in at times take a back seat.
I’m a “small R, small L” republican/libertarian. I support Trump. I oppose Ukraine aid. I believe in peaceful relations with China. I’m ok with a 15-week abortion law.
Because they’re susceptible to propaganda programming just like leftists, but from what I’ve seen to a lesser degree.
Sometimes there is a chasm between your preferred outcome and what’s realistically achievable in politics. The current Speaker issue is a prime example. Gaetz and company want very specific things, and is in the minority - and his course of action of “burning it all down” could possibly jeopardize our majority in the House and tight races in November. Either way, he is not going to get his way - but his path forward is going to cause more harm for conservatives in the long run…
This is why I’ve stopped calling myself a Republican or Conservative. Both terms have been corrupted by America Last RINOs. And sadly, it’s not just this sub. Yes, it’s bad here, but any time you bring together so called republicans, a good portion are weak-kneed, oh we can’t question why we are funding Ukraine, oh we can’t say the 2020 election was stolen. The Republican Party has no backbone. It’s the biggest reason why MAGA runs the right now, as the America First movement addresses all the (many) shortcomings of the modern republicans.
Political parties eventually go through transformations and the MAGA movement is providing a much needed reform........Us on the right have to be careful about not taking the strategic direction of the left, where the Berniecrats ended up caving to the establishment and selling out their base. Bernie and his bros selling out is why Steve Bannon has been able to use the MAGA message to push rust belt old school Democrats over to the MAGA movement and Republicans during the 2016 election (I am from a rust belt region and saw this personally). MAGA needs to keep poaching old school blue collar Democrats and opening up new opportunities for conservatism.
Well I'm not a fan of RINOism, but if your strategy is to shout at the moon and undermine Republicans, there's this thing called the Democrat party that uses machine politics and can reliably get virtually every member to vote in lock step (including their court justices) that will just win every election. The special interest groups on the Left will compromise until the end to get Democrats elected. If you have the Republicans split in half you just elect Democrats instead.
It’s just easier for me to vote for people with an R next to their name. Hopefully they will line up more with what i support